Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Mkhize to Explore Partnership with Institute of South African Municipal Accounting Officers (ISAMAO) to Professionalise Local Government

Minister Mkhize raised concern about the high employee turnover in municipalities which affects preservation of institutional memory and contributes to management instability

PRETORIA, South Africa, September 5, 2018,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr Zweli Mkhize, has met with the board members of the Institute of South African Municipal Accounting Officers (ISAMAO) in Cape Town today to explore areas of collaboration to promote good governance, efficient financial management and general management effectiveness in municipalities.

ISAMAO was launched in 2014 to professionalise local government management and administration with a focus on the municipal managers offices in municipalities.

In today’s meeting, Minister Mkhize raised concern about the high employee turnover in municipalities which affects preservation of institutional memory and contributes to management instability.

He also noted that the position of a municipal manager attracts professionals from diverse professional backgrounds and qualifications which creates a need to standardise the norms and standards for the position.

The ISAMAO has agreed to strengthen its relationship with CoGTA to support Minister’s efforts to promote good governance, improve service delivery, financial management and community relations by ensuring that there are skilled and well-prepared people to undertake the work of municipalities on the ground.

In order to achieve this, the meeting agreed to explore:

Introducing an induction programme for new municipal managers.
Creating a knowledge-sharing programme for municipal managers.
Developing management self-diagnosis tools to support service delivery improvement.
Processing and sharing emerging local government data to support CoGTA’s tailored Back to Basic programme interventions.

In the effort to improve professionalism in local government, CoGTA developed regulations to set standard procedures and competence criteria for the appointment of senior municipal officials.

Minister Mkhize is currently meeting various stakeholders to garner their support for the CoGTA intervention programme to support dysfunctional municipalities.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Cooperative Governance Traditional Affairs, Republic of South Africa.